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Post by Prince Hal on May 24, 2021 15:02:00 GMT -5
I was an early adopter of A Christmas Story, as I had happened across "The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters" on PBS and was hooked on Jean Shepherd. When A Christmas Story came about the next year, I was primed to see it, but was too young to get to the theater on my own... but as soon as it was released on VHS, I was there, and was delighted when TBS began marathoning it during the Holidays. I saw A Christmas Story the weekend it came out--as soon as I saw Shepherd's name in the ad, I was in (at this time, it was still possible for a movie to open and have not heard anything about it.) I had been a fan of his for years and had been able to catch the tail end of his career at WOR.
I loved it, and watched it a few times before TBS over-exposed it--the merchandising, etc., turned it into the type of thing he railed against when he was alive.
Shepherd was a national treasure. Listened to his radio show many a night in high school. What a voice! Like a twentieth century Mark Twain. If you ever have the chance, try to catch the short (maybe an hour?) film that used to run on PBS, "The Phantom of the Open Hearth" (1976), about Ralph going to the junior prom and the aftermath. Not as sweet as the wonderful "Christmas Story," but all the better for it. Immortal moment: Ralphie and the kids go to the Red Rooster after the dance, and orders a triple: "the only drink I ever heard my father order." Hilarity (and queasiness) ensue. It's on YouTube here:
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2021 18:41:02 GMT -5
Did not know that. He was everywhere in the 50s and 60s. Died too young at 54. To this day, when I read a FANTASTIC FOUR comic, I hear Gerald Mohr's voice in my head when Reed Richard speaks.
He was in one of my top favorite 2nd-season LOST IN SPACE episodes, "A Visit To Hades".
Recently, he became my FAVORITE Philip Marlowe, on the 50s radio show. It is CRIMINAL that he was never cast to play Marlowe in a movie or on TV.
I love Mohr as Marlowe, but Marlowe was written more like Mike Hammer than Marlowe in that series.
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Post by profh0011 on May 24, 2021 21:01:27 GMT -5
Strange observation. Mike Hammer debuted in 1947, the same year the Gerald Mohr Philip Marlowe radio series started.
Meanwhile, for many years, I've gotten tired of so many (ALLEGED!!!) Mike Hammer fans INSISTING (I'm looking at YOU, Max Collins!! --heehee) that the nasty, viscious, VILE Robert Aldrich film "KISS ME DEADLY" is the "best" Mike Hammer film ever. It's a well-made film, no question, and reminds me in look, tone and "McGuffin" of an episode of "THE OUTER LIMITS". But the 3 main characters in that film, are NO F***ING WAY "Mike Hammer", "Velda" or "Pat Chambers". I'd have a lot more respect for that SICK F*** of a film, if they'd simply changed the names of all 3 characters. Aldrich & his screenwriter deliberately set out to make a film that would be an insult and a slap-in-the-face to Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane, and their fans.
For quite a few years now, the 1953 film "I, THE JURY" starring Biff Elliot, Margaret Sheridan & Preston Foster had been my FAVORITE version of Hammer. And that was BEFORE getting my hands on a bootleg DVD of it! (And I started in 1983 with the debut of Stacy Keach in the role.) That is... until late last year. That's when I finally saw the TV series with Darren McGavin & Bart Burns. WOW!!! I haven't been able to stop watching it since I got the DVD box set. This thing is way, WAY more fun to watch than "THE UNTOUCHABLES" with Robert Stack.
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Post by MDG on May 25, 2021 13:16:07 GMT -5
Shepherd was a national treasure. Listened to his radio show many a night in high school. What a voice! Like a twentieth century Mark Twain. A lot of his radio work has been available on the Internet Archive and, increasingly, on YouTube. This is a good example of his live show. This is after the first break, but you can find his story about the two girls on the bus that he alludes to at the beginning (which is pretty surprising for '64).
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Post by codystarbuck on May 25, 2021 14:30:53 GMT -5
I picked up the story collections, when I worked for B&N and personally enjoyed the story of Ralph, home from the Army. He was used to reveille and wakes up early and hears his mother puttering around in the kitchen. He gets up and trudges, groggily, to the kitchen and sits down at the table. His mother asks him if he wants coffee, to which he replies, without thinking, "F-ing A right!" His mother stops for a second (her back is to Ralph, while at the stove, and he waits for the onslaught, but she goes back to what she is doing and pours him a cup of coffee. At that point, Ralph knew he was a man!
I had that moment, with my parents, after leaving the Navy and having to live at home for a bit, until I secured a decent job and a place of my own. I let an F-bomb slip at the dinner table, realized it, but nothing was said and the conversation continued. I didn't do it again, though.
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Post by foxley on May 31, 2021 17:16:11 GMT -5
At the risk of dragging this thread back to being about retcons... One I remembered this morning is that the Penguin's real name, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, was first revealed in the Batman comic strip (in the same story that introduced his aunt Miranda. I have no idea if she's in canon or not). Following that, it just seemed to get absorbed into the comic books and has been used in every subsequent adaptation into other media.
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Post by profh0011 on May 31, 2021 17:19:05 GMT -5
Was that the early-40s comic-strip of the late-60s one? My impression was the 40s strip is generally considered part of the comic-book continuity, while the 60s strip definitely IS NOT.
I got a laugh when, in the 3rd season of the 60s TV series, "Lulu Schultz" (Ethel Merman) enjoyed pointing out that she and the Penguin came from the same BAD neighborhood. It was a replay of the thing with The Archer and Maid Marilyn.
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Post by foxley on May 31, 2021 17:22:57 GMT -5
Was that the early-40s comic-strip of the late-60s one? My impression was the 40s strip is generally considered part of the comic-book continuity, while the 60s strip definitely IS NOT.
I got a laugh when, in the 3rd season of the 60s TV series, "Lulu Schultz" (Ethel Merman) enjoyed pointing out that she and the Penguin came from the same BAD neighborhood. It was a replay of the thing with The Archer and Maid Marilyn.
The 40s one.
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Post by dabellwrites on Aug 16, 2021 19:39:04 GMT -5
It's amazing how this thread became a discussion on Batman movies, than Tim Burton. You guy retconned the whole thread!
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